Bubble, Bubble, Toil And Trouble Part 2
by Juli84
Summary: The next part to BBTT- hope you like it! :
1. Chapter 1

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

_So here's Part 2! I've already got a few chapters of Part 3 written so expect it soon! I have no idea how many parts there'll be. I thought only three at first, but now I'm thinking four or five._

_Well, enjoy! I tried to make it interesting but I think there was just too much to say, it's a little repetitive though ;)_

_Disclaimer: It's all JKR's. Duh._

**Chapter 1: Roxanne Weasley, Hogwarts Ball**

**Roxanne Weasley**

**Hogwarts Ball**

"I have an announcement to make," Professor McGonagall said. Everyone looked up from their teapots, which they were trying to transfigure into crystal balls. No one had so far succeeded. Not even Quelle or Rose, who were normally two of the first to catch on.

Quelle was staring at the design on the side of her teapot, tracing it absentmindedly. Liz was tapping it. It looked a little more transparent that time, but it was still remarkably teapot-shaped with flowers on the handle. Lucy was so quiet no one even noticed she was there, but she was staring at a page in the textbook. I wondered if she was actually seeing it. Rose was also looking at the textbook, but she was reading _Quidditch Through The Ages_ under the desk. Now everyone looked up at McGonagall.

"This coming October," she said, "Will be the Hogwarts Masquerade Ball."

Everyone took a sharp intake of breath. I heard Ashley What's-her-name from our dorm squeal excitedly.

I couldn't think of anyone I wanted to take me. For some reason Peter Owen came to mind, but I brushed it off. I couldn't date players from the team. It might mess stuff up.

As McGonagall blah-blah-blah-blahed about the date (Halloween) and how it was traditional to bring dates and how a masquerade ball meant it is traditional to wear a mask, and directed a long speech about what is prohibited to Fred, I was nervously tapping my teapot so fast that steam was coming out the spout.

"So," Quelle said when she was finished. "The ball, huh? I thought that was just a rumor."

"Do we have to bring dates?" Liz groaned. "Like if we don't, will we be considered losers?"

"Mm hm," Rose said, looking up from Quidditch Through The Ages. "Sounds interesting. I wonder if anyone'll ask us."

"I don't know," I said. It would be kind of sad to go alone. Might as well not go at all. "I wonder what I'll do for my mask," I speculated.

"Everyone'll know it's you," Rose snorted, "When it has ribbons, sequins, and splatterpaint all over it."

Lucy, as usual, said nothing.

"Class dismissed," McGonagall said, quite excited that Gemma Webster had managed to change her teapot into a crystal ball. The fog inside looked suspiciously like a flowered pattern, but it was better than we'd done I guess.

"Hey," said someone as we passed. I wasn't paying attention, so I whipped my head around as they walked further down the corridor to see it was Peter Owen. "Hey," I said quietly back, too quietly for him to hear me.

"Can you believe Hogsmeade is tomorrow?" Liz said at a feeble attempt at conversation.

For a second I thought it was the wrong thing to say, and Lucy was going to burst into tears. Because of course she wasn't going to Hogsmeade like we'd always dreamed of last year and the year before, she was going to Saint Mungo's to visit her dying mother.

There hadn't been any news on Audrey Weasley for a day or two now, so Lucy was more uptight than ever now. Nothing was even worse than "unchanged".

"Yeah," I said, remembering that Liz had spoken. Lucy hadn't burst into tears, she was looking numbly ahead as usual, with her omnipresent poker face and wide eyes that drove me mad.

"I can't wait for Honeydukes," said Quelle, "I've heard they have a thousand flavors of sugar quills."

"I thought you were ultimately against sugar quills. Disruption to education and all that blah." Liz said in surprise.

"Maybe I changed my mind," said Quelle, sticking out her tongue. It was bright pink-red from sucking on a cherry sugar quill. I laughed, but it didn't quite reach my eyes.

I sighed. This corridor was right next to the outdoors one, so I could smell snow coming in the air. It was kind of nice, breathing in cold air. It was better than the air from the middle of the castle, which sometimes got stuffy.

"Hey," said Fred, running up. He seemed a little surprised we weren't chatting like old ladies, which we usually did. Well, not since last year really. But it's what we used to usually do. "So the dance, huh? Who're you gonna ask?"

"Fred, mind your own business," I said, swatting him. Stupid brother.

"I dunno," said Liz. "Probably not anybody. Might say yes to some people."

Wrong thing to say, I thought. Fred's face lit up for half a second. I'd always thought he might have a crush on Liz. But Liz hadn't ever showed any sign of liking Fred... I thought she might like Albus, actually...

"Cool," said Fred. "Gotta run!"

And he took off through the corridors, probably to go set up a portable swamp somewhere.

"Ya think he's going to go set up another one of those swamps?" Liz asked.

I almost choked on my own spit, and instead started laughing. "Probably," I said. She'd caught me off guard, and I was laughing now. Even Rose chuckled, though she still had the slightly glazed look in her eyes she got when she was thinking about Quidditch.

Maybe everything _would _be all right. Maybe Rose would wake up from her Quidditch dreams, Liz would stop seeming so sad, Quelle would tell us whatever she was keeping from us, and Lucy's mom would get better.

Maybe hippos would fly.

Then again, there are hippogriffs. It depends on how you look at it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 2: Ashely Faite, Romantic**

**Ashley Faite**

**Romantic**

"I still can't decide," I giggled, "If I like Ced Davies or Albus Potter better."

"Hm. Albus is better at Quidditch," Gemma said. She was buried in A History Of The Harpies.

I pouted. Gemma never paid attention to me anymore. Why couldn't we be like friends in Muggle movies, who laughed and talked about their secrets, painted their toenails together and giggled and told each other everything?

Kind of like Roxanne Weasley and her friends. Well, sort of. Last year they seemed a little like that. Roxanne was like me, I thought. Into fashion. Beautiful. Cool. And Rose Weasley wasn't that bad either, although she was maybe even a worse Quidditch freak than Gemma. Quelle had a really pretty face, but she was always so buried in a book nobody ever saw it. Liz was kind of a freak, I thought. Well, maybe her nerve was to be admired. Her hair was green, for heaven's sake.

"So you think Albus is better for me?" I asked, looking back at magazine. I really needed to be a Cinderella at this ball. The whole mask thing was so romantic. I'd probably find someone to dance with and find out it was either Ced or Albus, and we'd fall in love... *romantic sigh*

"Hm? I dunno." said Gemma, flipping the page to a timeline of Harpies wins in the last ten years.

"Hm," I said. "Look, this one's cheap. Never mind, don't look at it. Even TWW says it's kinda ugly." And also, yellow was so out. "I wonder what Roxanne'll be wearing," I mused.

"Hm. I dunno. Maybe more ribbons."

"What?" I asked.

Gemma looked up. "You know. She has ribbons all over her Quiddich uniform," she said.

"Oh yeah," I said. To be honest, I didn't really care about her Quidditch uniform. I didn't really get what Roxanne liked about Quiddich. But she was cool, so I guess Quidditch was cool. At least among the guys, and Professor McGonagall and Harper Jordan. But over the summer, I realized that Quidditch was not life.

_"You got a new friend/While I got homies/But in the end it's still so lonely.../In the night/I hear 'em talk/The coldest story ever told..." _It was Rose's Muggle CD player. Not as good as a Wizarding Wireless, but all right. This song was so yuck. Who wanted to hear about this junk?

"Hey, can you turn it down?" I called.

"It's Kanye West!" Liz said obnoxiously, and turned it up louder. I rolled my eyes. She laughed. "K, I'll turn it down," she said, and turned it down. Almost as soon as she did, the song changed. _"You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset/She's goin' off about somethin' that you said/Cuz she doesn't get your humor like I do..." _

"Never mind," I said. "It's all cool." This was a truly romantic song.

"I like Kanye West," remarked Gemma, finally putting away the Harpies book and taking out her Transfiguration homework. Of course she liked Kanye West. She was absolutely anti anything girly. She was too immature to take it.

On the other hand, I'd grown sophisticated enough to respect it. There was something magical about girly stuff.

Whilst Quidditch, as I'd said, was not life.

"Ced or Albus, Ced or Albus," I mused.... "I can't go for both, I gotta pick one. Anybody got any flowers?"

"Nah," said Gemma. "Maybe I can transfigure some, though." she looked around for something to transfigure but couldn't find anything.

"Whatevs," I said. "I'll find some sometime. Ready for bed?"

"Nah," said Gemma. "I still got a lot of Transfiguration homework. We're supposed to perfect that teapot thing by tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, that," I said. "Lost cause."

"I'm close," said Gemma. "The fog was weird in my last one, but I think I can get it soon."

I mixed up my face mask, and proceeded to get ready for bed.

"Thought you were going to bed," said Gemma, ten minutes later.

"I am," I said, "I'm just doing my face mask."

"What the-" said Gemma. I turned around to show her the green exfoliate. "Gross," she said, "It looks like slime."

"It gives you better skin," I said, rolling my eyes. "Whatever. Goodnight."

"You sleep with that stuff on?" Gemma said, raising her eyebrows. She tapped her teapot and it turned cloudy-transparent. "Shoot," she said, tapping it back.

"Yeah," I said, "That's the point."

"Gross," she said, sticking out her tongue. Remember what I said about unsophisticated and immature?

Listening to the next song come on, which had some chorus that said something about Romeo and Juliet, I fell asleep and had romantic dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 3: Rose Weasley, Hogsmeade**

**Rose Weasley**

**Hogsmeade**

"Ready?" I asked brightly. I was holding my permission slip and facing Roxi, Quelle, and Liz. We all looked excited but slightly melancholy that Lucy wasn't here. I hadn't imagined our first Hogsmeade like this. I'd predicted we'd all be together, for one.

"Oh, shoot," said Liz. "I lost my permission form."

"Here it is," said Roxi, plucking it from under a fake rat. "Liz, you have so much joke stuff you don't even need to go to Zonko's."

"Okay," said Elle. "Let's go." We all fastened our Gryffindor ties and hurried down the staircase, giggling but feeling like one piece of the puzzle was missing. I was fiddling with a hair scrunchie on my wrist.

"So I can't wait for the Three Broomsticks," I said. "I've never tried butterbeer, but I've heard it's pretty much the best thing on earth." The corners of Liz's mouth turned up. "Benji loved it," she said, "He wouldn't stop talking about it even on Summer break."

Quelle laughed distantly, like she was remembering something.

"What?" I asked her. "Oh, nothing," she said.

This was what was wrong, I noticed vaguely. A few months ago, she would have launched into some detailed conversation about what she'd been thinking. Now it was just "oh, nothing".

I realized with a bit of a pang that I'd done it a few times lately. "Oh, nothing," I'd said to Roxi the other day, when she'd dropped her teapot and stopped it an inch above the ground, which reminded me of a Wronski Feint. And, I realized in a way that made me almost noxious, I'd said it at least to Liz in the last few days too.

"So," said Roxi as we walked closer to the village, "Where to first? Shrieking shack, Zonko's, Hog's Head, Three Broomsticks, Owl Post Office..."

"Let's go to Honeydukes," Liz suggested. "I can't wait to stock up on sugar quills."

I didn't see my cousin Albus and a group of his friends until I knocked right into them. "Oh, gosh! Sorry!" I cried, peeling myself off the snowy ground and pulling Albus off. He'd knocked into a few other guys too... Fred, some guy named Drew, and Peter Owen from the Quidditch team. Roxi rushed to help Peter up. I wondered absentmindedly if she liked him. Roxanne normally didn't like guys. She was gorgeous and lots of guys liked her, but she was more interested in fashion, schoolwork, and Quidditch.

"Bye! Sorry!" I added as we split up in opposite directions.

"So, Honeydukes!" Liz said as we entered the building. It was extremely tall and edged in gold, with HONEYDUKES across the front in bold golden letters, slightly dusty. The shop windows held a gigantic lollipop rainbow, and buckets of chocolate, and posters of people eating sugar quills.

My eyes were wider than saucers as we stepped inside. There was so much candy- more sweets than I'd seen in my entire life! There were whole bookshelves full of sugar skulls, each one unique and delicate and perfectly painted. There were all kinds of chocolate bars I'd never heard of, including some that changed colors. There were Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Cauldrons, Chocolate Frogs... and best of all there were crates and crates of sugar quills, which separated into smaller cases you could buy, and separate ones too. Chocolate, cherry, lemon-lime... there were practically as many flavors as Bertie Bott's.

"This," Liz declared as she heaped up three small cases (marshmallow, lemon, and orange), "Is the best place I have ever set foot in."

When we left the store, we were piled high with bags. Sugar quills for all of us, especially Quelle and Liz (who were the biggest sugar quill lovers); lollipops, chocolate, sugar skulls. I particularly enjoyed the chocolate that changed colors. And some of the proceeds went to the Harpies, too, whom Liz and Roxi and I liked immensely.

"Mm," said Liz, as we walked in the direction of the Owl Post office. A bright neon orange sugar quill stuck out of her mouth. "You probably can't eat that in class," I giggled. "It's kind of... vivid."

Again, Quelle kind of smiled faintly at this. I didn't ask, fearing another "Oh, nothing". Maybe it would be better if I couldn't see it.

On the way there, after a few more halfhearted sarcastic remarks about candy, Quelle stopped short in front of a store window. The store was called something about Golden Forest and didn't look particularly interesting, but Elle's gaze was fixated on a stack of paint. They were small cans with labels that declared they were called "Late Sunset", "Water", and "Pine Forest".

"You know what?" Quelle said. "I think I'm gonna buy this."

"For yourself?" Liz asked, sounding weirdly suspicious.

"No," she said, then looked as if she wished she'd said yes. "Family friend. He likes to paint."

"What's his name?" Roxi asked curiously. "Is he the one whose family you were staying with this summer?"

"Yes," she said, without answering the first question as we walked inside and she snatched the paint to pay for it.

"What's his name?"Roxanne asked again. Quietly, softly. I never thought there would be a day when Quelle wouldn't tell us something. She was usually blah-blah-guess-what-I-ate-yesterday-this and blah-blah-Emeric-the-Evil-that.

"Is it Ben?" asked Liz quietly.

I could see just from the look on Quelle's face that Ben was right.

"Benjiman? Like Benji?" I asked.

"No," Quelle said. "Just Ben."

I wondered how Liz had known. She was brave, daring, athletic, tomboyish, and stubborn. But maybe she was psychic. I couldn't have figured it out if I'd guessed a hundred names.

Withe a bag from Golden Forest dangling from Quelle's arm and some strangely distant, quiet companions; I suggested maybe we should go to the Shrieking Shack. The Owl Post Office didn't seem incredibly interesting anyways.

But on our way back, I looked at my watch and discovered that not only were we supposed to be back in twenty minutes, but Quiddich practice was in thirty. When I pointed this out, Liz looked oddly tense.

Like she was about to explode.

I wondered where my friends had gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 4: Lucy Weasley, Mother**

**Lucy Weasley**

**Mother**

My stomach was plagued with not only butterflies, but a million insects. Every creepy-crawly thing I'd ever heard.

Snakes, even.

A basalisk.

I was thinking nervously what would happen to me if there really was a basalisk in my stomach to try to distract me from what was going to happen in a few minutes, when Father and I got to the front of the line.

"I'm here to see Audrey Weasley," he said. Hearing her name for the first time in months (no one really bothered to talk to me about her at school, since I never talked back), and the basalisk writhed.

"She's had a room change," said the grumpy lady, and read us the number. I wasn't really listening.

"So I heard there's going to be a ball at Hogwarts," Father said stiffly as we walked through the halls to find Mother's new room.

"Mm," I said. I remembered something about that.

"So has anyone asked you?" he asked, sounding a little impatient. He'd just begin to notice my general muteness.

"No," I mumbled. It was the first thing I'd said all day. My tongue tripped. The basalisk struggled to get out through my throat, so I closed my mouth.

"Are you going to ask anyone?"

"Probably not." I clamped my mouth shut again.

"Oh." said Father as we turned onto mother's floor.

"So what's going on at school besides that?"

"Nommuch."

"How are your friends?"

"Okay."

"Do you like the snow?"

I searched for a window but couldn't find one. It was snowing? I wondered how long there'd been snow. I remembered my walk on the bridge, wondering if there had been any yet. Where was I? I remembered when Mother and I used to sing Christmas carols. "I'm dreaaammming of a Whiiiiite Christmas...." we'd warble, off key. My throat closed up.

"Yeah, sure," I said, hoping that was the right thing to say. Apparently it was, because he finally shut up.

We found mother's room. She was in a room by herself, as spattergroit is somewhat contagious. The doctor was out, but there was a note on the door permitting Percy Weasley and Daughter inside.

Dad knocked once and, without waiting for an answer, cracked the door open. "Honey? It's me. And Lucy."

"No," I wanted to say. "I'm not Lucy anymore. I'm someone else now. Didn't you know?"

He opened the door. The room was all dark, except for the light next to my mother's bed.

She was sitting up in bed, reading a book.

My first thought was how hard that must be, considering it looked hard for her to see.

She looked up suddenly. This was my mother?

Her hair had grown out more, falling to about her armpits. It was still the same color of brownish-blond toffee it had always been, but it still seemed different. I wondered how long it had been since she'd washed it. It looked a little like mine. Greasy. Not to the point of wrinkling noises, but the texture was slightly different. Not as bad as the black-haired professor I'd seen in a portrait in the Headmaster's office, where I had just been for my father to pick me up. Professor Snape, I thought it was. He had a hook nose and sneered from behind his picture frame.

My mother's hair was not the worst part. Her face was scarred with blemishes, swelled up. Her eyes looked a little beady. From what I could see of her hands, they looked blemished, scabbed, and scarred to the point of war-torn.

"Lucy," she cried, smiling, and raised her arms in a hug.

And then I realized no matter what she looked like, she was still my mother inside. And she didn't look like she was about to die.

So maybe I could still be Lucy?


	5. Chapter 5

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 5: Liz Finnegan, Confessions**

**Liz Finnegan**

**Confessions**

I held my breath. The door to Gryffindor girls dormitories swung gently open.

There was Lucy.

She looked almost the same as when she'd left. It was like a game I'd played at a Muggle camp that my mother had made me go to when I was eight. There was a bunch of random debris in the middle of a circle. The players turned around, someone took something out or put something in, and we had to figure out what it was.

What was different about Lucy? Her hair, blond-red and looking like she hadn't washed it in a few days, was the same. Her clothes, which were rumpled and randomly selected, were the same. Her thinness, with elbows that jutted and looked alien to me on soft Lucy, was the same.

I finally figured out what it was. It was her face. Her eyes, instead of lackluster and dull, seemed a little brighter than they did. Her face, which had seemed slack and uncaring before, now looked like someone had breathed a little life into it.

Lucy had changed.

"Luce!" I ran to her as she walked up, throwing myself at her in a hug, wondering if it would feel the same. But I didn't have many hugs to compare it too. She still felt weirdly skinny.

"Liz!" she said. I blinked and wondered if I'd really heard it. Quelle looked up from her "Muggle Studies Homework", Roxanne from a design for her Masquerade Ball mask, Rose from a book called_ History of the Bats_ that she'd borrowed from Gemma Webster.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to Hogsmeade." she said, sounding like she was getting used to her voice.

I was about to faint.

"Lucy-" said Rose. "You're-"

"Talking," she said.

"You know what?" I said, overcome with happiness but confused. "We should have a talk."

"We should," agreed Lucy. The sound of her voice was so awkward, I almost started looking around to see who was talking. I barely recognized it. It was kind of like a bell, but it was a little quaky as if it was unsure of itself. It was so weird.

"'Kay," said Roxanne, looking amazed. She tucked her ball mask away. Quelle did the same with her "Muggle Studies Homework", and Rose from her Bats book.

"Who wants to talk first?" asked Quelle quietly.

No one said anything.

"I will," I said, taking a deep breath.

"Okay," I said, twirling a strand of emerald-colored hair around my finger.

"I always thought we'd be together our first Hogsmeade trip."

Lucy looked down.

"I always thought this year we'd still be closer than either. As close-knit as we were last year and the year before. But then everything started to change. Rose, you got the keeper position and all of a sudden you were a Quiddich fanatic, who only looked up from her Quiddich books to ask me to shoot Quaffles at her. And before I knew it, we started drawing apart."

Rose chewed her lip, but she didn't get defensive or offended or deny anything.

"Quelle," I said, "You changed big-time. Last year you were an obsessive perfectionist, and we couldn't get you to take your nose out of a book. But this year you're got your nose in a sketchbook. You've been acting terribly mysterious, hiding your drawings behind your homework, and you seem so distant. You're always thinking about something. You mutter in your sleep. And you won't tell us what's up with you."

Elle looked halfheartedly at the sketchbook, which was propped at such a convenient angle that only she could see it.

"Roxi, I suppose you're going through the same thing as me. But we never talk." I was beginning to choke up. "I know you've got a lot to do, being a glamour diva and all and designing your clothes. But sometimes I'd leave in the middle of the day and you wouldn't even notice, you were so absorbed in your designs. We've kind of been pretending nothing's been happening. Which is just as bad as anything else."

Roxanne looked right into my eyes. They were overwhelmingly chocolate.

"And Lucy-" I sighed. "Lucy, I'd say I understand although I really probably don't. At all."

That was all I said. Lucy nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 6: Roxanne Weasley, Talking**

**Roxanne Weasley**

**Talking**

We were sitting in the circle on our beds, just breathing.

Liz's talk had been eloquent enough for all of us. It was so true. Rose hadn't looked up from her Quiddich stuff for ages, Quelle had been closed up tighter than a clam shell, and Lucy hadn't talked in weeks. And I hadn't tried to talk about it either.

I'd pretended it hadn't been happening.

But now it was out there, and nobody knew exactly how to react to it.

"Okay," I breathed. "Since we've barely seen each other in a long time, I guess I'd better fill you in."

"I've been sneaking up to the roof, like I did last year and in first year," I said. "I've kind of needed it. I guess I'd been pretending we haven't been growing apart, but part of me knows it's happening. I would cry sometimes and couldn't figure out why. Now I think I know," I took a deep breath. "Okay. I've been designing more than usual lately to cover it up." I confessed. "And tried to heal it."

"And also?" I chewed my lip, debating if I should get it out in the open.

"Um. I think I have a crush."

Even Quelle's mouth dropped open.

"ROXI? A crush? What?" Liz screeched.

"Sshhhh!" I cried. "I'll tell you but only if you stop screaming."

Rose was laughing.

"Peter Owen," I whispered when it got quiet.

"Peter OWEN?" Liz squealed, but Lucy threw a hand over her mouth.

"He loooooooves you," Rose said, clasping her Bats book to her chest and pretending to swoon. Everyone was laughing.

"Hey, shut up," I said, trying to hold back a smile. "It's not funny."

"He seriously looooooooves you," Rose said, still swooning. "He's gonna ask you to the Masked Ball!"

"Hey, can we see your mask?" Liz said.

"Nope," I said, hiding the parchment I was planning it on. So far I didn't have much.

"He looooooooooooooves you!!!" Rose squealed.

"Shut up!" Elle said, surprisingly loud. "I need to make my confessions now."

Everyone was quiet.

"He still loooooves you," Rose said quietly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 7: Lucy Weasley, The Talk**

**Lucy Weasley**

**The Talk**

"I was with mom's family friend this summer," Quelle said. "Mrs. Thomas, who isn't really my aunt, but I'm supposed to call her Auntie Alicia. And her husband Mr. Thomas. And her son. Ben."

"The one you bought paint for," Rose said.

"What?" I asked.

"Elle dragged us into this shop to buy paint." Roxi said, looking confused. "Go on."

"Okay," she said. "So Ben paints. He gets up early and paints. He usually gets on the roof. He has this little nook up there. And a blank canvas, usually. And some paint. He does it the Muggle way too, no touching it up with wands. He does sunrises, lakes, forests. He says he's terrible at portraits, but I haven't seen any of his."

She smiled, like she was remembering something. "He started getting me up in the morning to paint too. I'm not as good as him. But as you know, I've been practicing. A lot. All I want to do is draw, and paint. I honestly don't care about Emeric the Evil and Derrick the Dimwitted or whoever the heck he is."

"Ben," said Liz. "Tell us more about him."

She chewed on her lip. "The thing is, I think-"

"What?" asked Liz quietly.

"I think I might be in love with him."

Well, that dropped like a bomb. No one knew quite what to say. Roxi and Elle were about the least likely people to get crushes we even knew of, and here they were.

"Details," said Rose, like a machine when not enough code had been typed in.

"About him?" Elle asked, rolling her eyes. Rose nodded.

"Okay. Okay. He's tall, tall and a little lanky. His shirt's untucked nine of ten times. He's kind of unorganized. He usually has paint all over him. His skin is kind of creamy tannish. He's ace at Quiddich, especially chaser, which I think he got from his mom. He has deep blue eyes and brown hair and incredibly adorable freckles, and he's usually grinning or staring at something while he's painting it. He's really funny but he can be way serious. I've never seen him do magic, so I don't know if he's a good student. We- erm- kissed. Once. Okay, twice."

"Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaa," said Rose. "I'm in love with him already."

"I called him already," said Roxi.

"No fair, I saw him first," Elle pouted.

We bickered over whose Ben was for a minute and then everything got quiet again.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. Inhale, exhale.

"When I got that letter, that said M-Mother might die, it felt like I might die. I spent every second of my day just willing her to stay alive. I never saw anything. It was like I was on- what do you call it- autopilot. I didn't even know who I was anymore. I was so busy willing Mom that I forgot. I got too skinny and never washed my hair. I spent all my time looking at the ceiling. Part of me did die, I think."

"And then I went to go see her today." I took another deep breath. "I'll be brutally honest. She doesn't look perfect. She actually looks a lot like me. Her hair's grown out. She's got-"

And then I gave in and started sobbing. Rose and Elle and Roxi and Liz all slipped off their beds and came to sit behind me, letting me cry into their shoulders.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 8: Quelle Bones, Diary Entry 3**

**Quelle Bones**

**Diary Entry 3**

_Dear Future Quelle_

_For the first time in a while, everything seems right._

_1) I don't have to hide anymore. Rose, Lu, Liz, and Roxi know that I draw. I even showed them some of my stuff. They were impressed. I still think I have a long way to go before I'm as good as Ben._

_We TALKED. Even Lucy. That's right. Lucy still seems a little like she's trying to re-find herself, but she's getting better. Kind of like her mom, recovering from Spattergroit._

_So Liz was feeling awful and neglected, Roxi was pretending none of it was happening, and Rose was too Quiddich-obsessed to barely realize anything was going on._

_But now we've talked, and I think this broken friendship might just heal straight._

_And now when Rose plays her stereo, we talk over it. And that's the most beautiful sound, like ever._

_2) I heard from Him._

_Yes, I heard from the incredibly mysterious Ben._

_I will copy his letter here. It's not exceptionally long, but it's okay._

_Dear Quelle,_

_I feel like such an idiot for not writing sooner. That's me, Ben the blockhead. Well anyways, it's me. Ben._

_So how is your art going? Are you using that sketchbook? I'm getting up early to paint. The lake is amazing. I wish you could see it. I'm still practicing faces, but my portraits are no good at all._

_And how are you? I've been thinking about you. A lot, I must confess. How is everything at Hogwarts?_

_And this letter is incredibly short, but I can't think of much else to say._

_Things at Durmstrang are okay, but I wish you were here. You might warm this cold place up._

_-Ben_

_I showed it to everyone. Rose practically had a heart attack. "HE LOOOOOOVES YOU!" she kept screeching, which was peaking Ashley Faite's interest, so Roxi had to threaten to hit her with a beater's bat to make her shut up._

_But HE WAS THINKING ABOUT ME! I still wish I knew what we were. And what am I going to write back?_

_Dear Ben,_

_I think I'm in love with you, but I don't know what you_

_Dear Ben,_

_Hi. Hogwarts is cool. I'm drawing some. I-_

_Dear Ben,_

_There's gonna be a ball and I really wish you were here to take me to it and I-_

_Dear Ben,_

_Do you like me? Maybe do you even love me? Check yes or no-_

_Dear Ben,_

_Do you think we have a song? What is our song? Is it totally weird to-_

_Dear Ben,_

_I wish I could paint you._

_Okay, that one was just creepy._

_Dear Ben,_

_WHAT ARE WE?_

_Dear Ben,_

_DO YOU LOVE ME?_

_Dear Ben,_

_I hate you for not making it clear what we are and if you love me-_

_Dear Ben,_

_I take it back. I love you._

_Dear Ben,_

_Ben! I've been thinking about you too! It was so nice to hear from you! Here's Blockhead Quelle, writing back._

_Yeah, I've been using the sketchbook some and drawing and painting. But not as good as you. I wish I could be there and see the lake._

_I wish you were here at Hogwarts. You'd make this place even warmer._

_There's not much exciting coming up. There's a ball, I think, but I don't know if I'm going to go. Do they have stuff like that at Durmstrang? Do you get to go swimming in the lake?_

_-Quelle_

_Oh, that was a stupid one._

_Help me come up with a better letter, Future Quelle._

_-A snapshot of Ell_


	9. Chapter 9

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 9: Rose Weasley, Oh Gosh**

**Rose Weasley**

**Oh, Gosh**

What was I going to do about this Masquerade Ball?

A bunch of people were asking each other.

_I don't think I will. I doubt anyone will ask me. I think Quelle and I will probably go alone together. She's not even gonna say yes if anyone asks, because she's in love with Ben._

Oh gosh, where's my Ben?

Anyways, Lucy already is going with someone. I thought she had finally gone insane when she walked into the Gryffindor dormitories and told us she'd asked DAMIEN MALFOY, aka The Malfoy Brat, to the Hogwarts Ball.

"Your dad is gonna kill you," Roxi said, as we walked down the hall to our next class. "I didn't know you liked Damien."

"Not in THAT way," Lu tried to explain. Her voice was still oddly alien to everyone's ears. "Just as friends. You know what? I think he might be different. Everyone just hates him because he's a Malfoy. He could use some friends."

"But still," Liz was saying, when all of a sudden Fred came up.

"Hey, Liz," he said. He looked extremely nervous. That wasn't like him. Usually he was grinning, making jokes, and blowing stuff up.

"Hi, Fred," she said, looking a little confused in this change in behavior as well.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Fred said. "Sure," she said, looking baffled, and they walked off. I wondered what they were talking about? Roxi?

I watched her face as he said something. She looked absolutely stunned.

"He's asking her to the ball," Roxanne said.

"What?" I cried.

"He's liked her for a while," Roxanne said, looking torn. "I don't know which would be weirder: my best friend and my brother going to the ball, or my best friend saying no and breaking my brother's heart.

Fred nodded his head as we watched. The back of his head was to us, so we couldn't see his face.

He walked off with a wave. I couldn't tell if it was excited or halfhearted.

Liz just stood there for a second, looking breathless and extremely confused. I realized for the first time that Liz was pretty with green hair. At first I had thought it was weird, but it really was pretty. It was put up into a bun now, and little wisps fell around her face.

I guess I hadn't realized Liz was growing up. For the first time I thought about it, she was taller than me now. She used to be a little midget-creature. She might even be taller than Roxi, now that I thought about it.

She walked up, with the weirdest look on her face, like she was shocked out of her mind.

She was taller than Roxi by a sheer two inches or so. I blinked, but she was still taller.

"Well?" asked Elle.

"He asked me to the Ball," she said. There were pieces of snow stuck in her hair that were melting now.

"What did you say?" asked Roxanne impatiently.

She shook her head.

"What did you say?" Roxi asked again.

Liz shook her head slower. "I said no," she whispered, and then she was running down the hallway and into the girls' bathroom.


	10. Chapter 10

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 10: Sola Scamander, Third Poem**

**Sola Scamander**

**Third Poem**

_It's like someone's opened_

_A window_

_Stained glass_

_And now all the colors are all_

_Spilling out across the room_

_Their shapes distorting_

_Looking bigger_

_The imprint of a window stretched_

_Across the floor_

_Because now there is energy_

_And now Lucy Weasley speaks_

_There is going to be a ball_

_Where everyone will wear_

_A mask_

_And even in masks_

_The stained glass_

_Will shine through_

_All together_

_And the vagabond in me_

_Is still singing a quiet melody_

_But now there are other things singing too_

_So it's like part of an orchestra_

_All singing_

_In front of the stained glass window_

_Together_


	11. Chapter 11

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 11: Damien Malfoy, The Room**

**Damien Malfoy**

**The Room**

"Hey, little brother," Scorpius spat out. I stopped in my tracks. I'd been trying to sneak out of the common room without him seeing me.

"You going to the ball with anyone?" he jeered.

I weighed my options. I could tell him I was going with Lucy Weasley, as a friend; or I could lie.

"No," I lied almost instantly. No need to tell my brother I was going to the ball with a Gryffindor. After saying that, my best option would be to run as fast as I could in the other direction.

"You should go with Zanth," he said, grabbing a second-year Slytherin by the scruff of her neck as she tried to walk to the fireplace. "Hey Zanthia, you wanna go to the ball with Damien?"

Zanthia Zabini was awful. She was cruel to all the other houses and everyone, including the Slytherins, that was younger than her. She was scrawny and skinny with sleek black hair, cold dark eyes, and an evil menacing smile. Her skinniness was misleading, however. She was stronger than a griffin and could physically beat people up. And she knew some pretty lethal spells to do the job for her as well. Just last week, she'd sent Lily Potter to the hospital wing with teeth the size of large daggers.

In other words, not someone I wanted to go to the ball with.

"Um, that's okay," I stuttered before anyone could say anything, and speedwalked out of the Slytherin common room.

I liked to walk. I'd ventured around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, walked through the rose gardens they were preparing for the Ball, and gotten lost just for the pleasure of having to find my way back to the common room. I'd found dozens of empty classrooms just filled with things- but there was one in particular I wanted to go to now.

I found the stretch of empty wall easily and paced back in forth in front of it, clearing my mind of all thoughts but one.

And then the door appeared.

I stepped up to it, yanked on the handle, and went inside to The Room.

It was large, square, and wooden. The space was filled with old-fashioned furniture instead of the things with glass and metal and sharp corners that covered our house back at home. A wizarding wireless buzzed in the corner, telling news of the match between Puddlemere and the Cannons. No prizes for guessing who was winning.

There was a tub of Pumpkin Juice and Butterbeer in the corner, with a fat squishy armchair that was perfect for reading in. There was a bookshelf full of things, and a Sneakoscope in the corner that alerted me if my brother or any fellow Slytherins walked down the hallway outside the room. There was also a highly realistic portrait of a Firebolt Three in the corner, which I couldn't ride but I could admire.

It was the room where I could forget I was a Malfoy and just be Damien.


	12. Chapter 12

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 12: Roxanne Weasley, Fred and Liz and Peter Owen**

**Roxanne Weasley**

**Fred and Liz and Peter Owen**

"It's okay, Liz," Elle whispered into her ear. "It's okay."

"I wish I'd said yes," she sobbed, stuffing another Pumpkin Pasty into her mouth. "Why didn't I say yes? I'm not even going with anybody! And I love Fred! And now he probably thinks I'm the biggest prat to-"

"It's okay," Lu said, feeding her another Pumpkin Pasty.

"No it isn't!" Liz wailed. Harper Jordan, who was obsessing over the next Gryffindor match, looked up startled at the noise from her DADA Homework. "It's not okay! I was so mean! I was such a git! Why didn't I just say yes! I'm so stupid!"

"Stoppit, Liz, or you're gonna turn into Moaning Myrtle." I groaned. "It's all right."

"Roxi, he's your brother," she sniffled. "And I was so mean to him! Go on, tell me off."

"It's seriously all right, Liz," I said. "He'll get over it."

"I didn't even have any idea he liked you," said Rose bluntly, which made Liz burst into another round of tears. Lu stuffed another Pasty into her mouth to make her shut up.

"Somebody gimme my bat so I can whack myself in the head with it," she moaned. I quickly tucked her Beater's bat under the bedskirt with my foot. "Lizzy, it's fine." I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice. "Everyone forgives you."

I looked up from my sketchpad, where I'd been designing what I wanted my Masquerade Ball mask to look like. I was debating if I should sew tiny buttons around the edges or it that would just look weird.

Liz was basically a wreck. As soon as we'd gotten back from our final class, Ancient Runes, she'd kind of broken down. Her eyes were rimmed red from crying, and her face had that blotchy tearstreaked look of someone who'd just been bawling her eyes out.

Except she was still bawling her eyes out.

"Bathroom," I said. I needed to get away from all the nose. I got up and walked down the stairs, listening at the door.

"You don't think Rox is mad at me, do you?" Liz sniffed.

"No," said Quelle.

"Why didn't I say yes? Now that I think about it, I even LIKE Fred?" Liz sobbed.

Gag.

All of a sudden, the stair that my bottom foot was resting on seemed to melt away. I scrambled back onto the landing.

The stairs had turned into a sort of slick, smooth slide, and Peter Owen was sitting in a dazed heap at the bottom.

The stairs morphed back and I ran down them. Lots of people were staring. Ashley Faite was giggling.

"You okay?" I asked, giving him a hand.

"Yeah," he said, still looking like little stars were spinning around his head. He flicked his wand to make sure it wasn't broken and reddish gold sparks flew out of the top. "I guess I forgot boys aren't supposed to go up there. I was gonna say hi."

"Oh. Hi," I said, getting the distinct impression that I was blushing.

"Hi," he said back, laughing kind of nervously and scratching his head. Most people had stopped looking at us.

I thought I was gonna die when he lowered his voice and said, "Go to the ball with me?"

I blushed harder. Oh my gosh. "Uh, sure," I said, trying to smile without fainting.

"Cool," he said. "So I guess I'll see you at Quiddich?"

"What's that?" I wanted to say. Instead I said, "Yeah. 'Kay. Bye!" and headed up the stairs.


	13. Chapter 13

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 13: Hugo Weasley, Lily's Teeth**

**Hugo Weasley**

**Lily's Teeth**

"Okay, but not for long," Madam Pomfrey grumped. I scurried past and over to Lily's hospital bed, were she was sitting up. Her teeth had shrunk a little, but I got the impression Madam Pomfrey was still working on them because the front two were roughly the size of piano keys.

"Lily!" I cried. "Are you okay? I wanna go kill Scorpius Malfoy!"

"He di'ent oo it, Oogo," said Lily, finding it extremely hard to talk with her teeth. "Thanthia Thabini did."

"But he told her to!" I raged. "That was the meanest thing ever. And you didn't even do anything!"

Lily nodded. "Some ov teh other 'ids ah callink me sabuw toof tiger."

I looked at her, sitting in the hospital wing. And I really wanted to kill Scorpius Malfoy.

Lily was petite but strong, a head shorter than me. Her hair was sleek and dark brown and matched her eyes. She had a few freckles. She was wearing plain robes and her hair in a ponytail that was smoothed across her right shoulder.

She was sort of beautiful.

That reminded me of when we were really little, running around in my backyard in the summer. Back then I'd always thought we'd grow up and get married. One time I told that to Mom. She was really nice about it, but she told me that normally cousins didn't marry each other.

I'd still thought there was a chance we'd get married for a while, but then I told Dad and he'd laughed his head off.

And said no, that didn't really happen.

That was when I gave up on marrying Lily. But I'm okay with just being friends.

My best friend is my cousin, and a girl. That's Lily.

"I'm gonna go teach Zanthia Zabini a few things," I said dramatically, smacking my fist into my hand like they did in Muggle movies.

"Oogo, 'ont. Shel hex oo too."

"Oh, all right," I sighed. "Do you need anything?"

"Ell, Adam Pomfey gonna shrink teef and I haf to stay heah ovenight, so aybe my Potions Omework?"

"Okay," I sighed, "I'll go get it."

She beamed, her teeth going down her chin. "Thaks, Oogo."

"You're welcome," I smiled, looking at her teeth. They were still huge, like I said the size of piano keys, but they were very white and straight. Lily had nice teeth, even when Zanthia made them grow to the size of walrus tusks. Madam Pomfrey bustled over to her, probably to make them shrink a little more. I smiled and waved as I set off down the corner to get her essay.

I thought about Lily's teeth. And I still wanted to kill Scorpius Malfoy.


	14. Chapter 14

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 14: Lucy Weasley, Dress Robes**

**Lucy Weasley**

**Dress Robes**

"I'd forgotten all about dress robes," I sighed. "We'll need some to go with our mask, won't we? I wonder if Dad knows to send me some?"

As if on cue, there was a rap on our window. Hermes sat, fat and sleek and dignified, on the windowsill carrying a parcel practically as bit as him. Liz opened the window between sniffles and let him in.

There was a note fastened to the package in perfectly straight and rounded handwriting. I plucked it off to read it.

_Lucy-_

_Dad sent me these dress robes, but they're much too small. I think they may fit you? I'll have to ask for new ones, and I hope Dad will send them in time. I probably won't see you before break lets out, so have a happy last week of school before the Christmas Holidays._

_-Molly_

"They're dress robes," I announced to everyone. "From my sister."

Everyone watched as I unwrapped the parcel and pulled the dress robes out. They were pale, pale pink- to the point of being between pink and white. They never would have fit me a few months ago, since Molly is and was so skinny, but I'd lost a lot of weight willing Mother.

"Try them on," squealed Roxi.

"Okay," I said, drawing the curtains around my bed. I looked at them again. They were loose and flowy, a little gauzy, but not see through. I thought it must be too long and the bodice too big, but I tried it on. It seemed to fit like a charm. But I still needed to see it.

"All right, I'm coming out," I said, kneeling and then brushing aside the curtains to step out.

Everyone gasped. "Oh my gosh," said Rose. "That is your dress, Lu. You look so pretty."

Roxanne got down on her knees and into a begging stance. "Lucy, can I please please please please please make your mask?"

"Sure," I giggled. "It's not like I'm gonna get it somewhere else. Were are we even supposed to get masks, anyways?"

"Damien's not even gonna recognize you," Elle said. "You look so different!"

"Grown up, I think," said Liz. "Wow, Lucy."

"Somebody gimme a mirror," I sighed. Roxi pointed to the full length one between her bed and the wall. I walked over to it.

At first I didn't even recognize myself. I thought it must be some strangely non-transparent ghost that was floating around in the Girls Dormitories, that was standing in front of me.

The dress was better than any robes I'd tried on before. They floated down to just above my shoes in ripples of complicated silky pink. They cut down to one opaque layer for the bodice, which wrapped around and fit perfectly. The color made my hair look a little darker than it actually is, and my eyes bluer than they actually are.

I smiled.

"So what are you all doing for your robes?" I asked.

"Bright orange," said Roxi immediately. "I'm making a statement."

We all laughed. "Everyone's gonna know it's you, Rox." She shrugged.

"I think I'll wear something Muggle," said Rose. We all rolled our eyes and nodded. Rose read Muggle books, listened to a bunch of Muggle music, and loved Muggle clothes. It was only fitting she wear something strictly Muggle.

"I don't know," said Quelle. "My mum is sending me some, but they haven't come yet."

Liz didn't say anything, just moped broodingly.

So far, Roxanne was the only one with an actual date-date to the ball. Peter. Liz had turned Fred down (she was still depressed about that), and I was going with Damien but just as friends. Quelle and Rose hadn't been asked.

"So," said Roxanne. "Does anyone else want me to make their mask?"

"I already have one," Rose said proudly. "I got it at a Muggle shop a few years ago and kept it. It doesn't look very Muggular, but I love it."

"I think I'll make mine," said Quelle slowly.

"If I even go, you can make mine, Roxi," moaned Liz. "Of course you're going," Rose chided. "You have to. You can hang out with me and Elle."

Liz just stared mopingly at her bookshelf. "Oh stop it, you mope. Fred's fine." Roxanne said.

I caught another glimpse of my reflection. I couldn't wait for the ball.


	15. Chapter 15

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 15: Liz Finnegan, Plucking Up The Courage**

**Liz Finnegan**

**Plucking Up The Courage**

There we stood, all crammed into Roxanne's mirror. The five of us in our dress robes. We were modeling, making sure they fit, for the ball. None of us had our masks on yet, though. Across the room, Ashley Faite was trying to squeeze into a gigantic blue ball gown thing. Gemma was looking up at her with an eyebrow raised every once and a while, reading something.

Roxanne was on the far left. She was dressed in robes of bright, garish orange. It was practically blinding. She had orangish reddish pink lipstick on and these shimmering orange robes. She looked like some kind of queen. It was a statement, all right.

Lucy was next. She looked so magnificent and grown up in those robes, I just wanted to die. She wasn't round little Lucy anymore. She was slender and taller. She was a young woman. It was kind of eye-opening how much she'd changed.

In the middle was Rose. Her dress was bright lipstick red. Not quite as garish as Roxi's dress robes- more polished. It went down to halfway between her knees and ankles. The top was some kind of halter top type thing that would around her neck.

Then Quelle. She looked like a quiet, sophisticated artist. Her robes were the most beautiful shade of navy blue velvet that brought out the slight highlights in her hair and the blue of her eyes. I'd forgotten how pretty she actually was.

Next was me, on the far right. I was wearing this floor-length pine-green thing, sleeveless type deal, but with these weird straps that went around my arms. Roxi had pulled my hair up into a bun. She said I looked stunning, but I looked absolutely MISERABLE.

It was only two days until the ball, but I couldn't get over myself. I had been so mean, rude, and self-centered. What did I think was going to happen? Albus Potter was going to ask me to the ball? That someone better would come along? Fred was like a brother to me. In fact, I could grow to actually like him that way. I hadn't even had the excuse to give that someone had already asked me. I had been a prat, and I knew it. There was absolutely no reason I should have turned Fred down.

"Gonna go get some air," I choked out, and stalked out of the dormitory. Everyone stared after me. "Liz-" Rox called, but I kept walking. I didn't realize until I attracted lots of weird looks going down the corridors that I was still wearing my dress robes.

I had a crazy fantasy of going out to the broom shed, grabbing my broom, and flying. But there was no way I could fly in these things. Instead, when I turned outside, I walked into the rose garden.

And stopped short. There, sitting on one of the benches, was Fred. He was staring at the ground, dragging a toe in the dirt. His ginger hair stood out against all the green grass and the green rosebushes of the garden. Around him, fairies were starting to practice twinkling. They looked a little out-of-place in the daylight, like they were early for something and were just kind of sitting there awkwardly waiting for it to happen.

I walked up to him and sat down next to him. He looked at me.

"Those are your dress robes?" he asked. I nodded. "Roxi," I explained. A smile played at the corner of his mouth.

"So are you going with anyone?" he asked. I looked at him, trying to convey "I'm Sorry" with the look in my eyes, and shook my head. "You?" he shook his head too.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, a sudden flash of inspiration coming to me. He nodded, looking curious.

"Could you find it in you to go to the ball with me? I don't even know what I was thinking, I was such a prat. And I'm really sorry about it."

He looked up at me doubtfully. "Are you just saying that because you feel sorry for me?"

I hesitated a fraction of a second, then shook my head. I was honest about it too. "I actually kind of like you," I said. "I just didn't realize it."

He smiled. It looked like someone had breathed a little life into his eyes, just like Lu had looked when she came back after visiting her mother. "Then yes," he said. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," I said, standing up. "So I'll see you there?"

He nodded. "See you there."

I walked all the way back up to the girls dormitories, feeling like singing.


	16. Chapter 16

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Chapter 16: Lysander Scamander, Third Floor Corridor**

**Lysander Scamander**

**Third-floor Corridor**

"Beat you," I whispered to Lorcan, knowing I would win. Out of us, he was the brainy and smart one and I was a lot more athletic.

Sure enough, I tagged the rail on the staircase a full ten or twenty seconds before he did. He was breathing harder too. And his tie was askew.

Bonus points!

I studied him and me in the mirror, which was straight across from us outside a boys' bathroom. We'd been born identical, but we'd grown more apart until we barely looked alike anymore. Lorcan was a little shorter than me. His hair had stayed bright blond since childhood. He was a little skinny, but sort of cute in a little-kid sort of way. He was sort of funny, but extremely brainy. Some people labeled him off as just a brain. Whereas I was tall and muscular, my hair darkened to brown like my father's. I had freckles across my nose from being out in the sun. I was probably one of the best-looking boys in Ravenclaw. Sure, girls didn't fantasize about me quite as much as Ced Davies or James Potter, but I was up there too. I liked my appearance.

But no matter how different Lorc and I looked, we'd always be friends in a brothery sort of way.

"So," I said, as we started up the staircase. "Have you asked anyone to the ball?"

He shook his head and smiled. "You?"

I nodded. "Do you know Gemma Webster?"

"In Gryffindor? Isn't she the same year as Sola?"

"Hey, you say that like she's a lot younger. We're only fourth-years, Mr. Superior."

He smiled. "I guess you're right. Sola's sort of the baby of the family, though."

"Hey, there's Gemma right now," I smiled. She was walking down the hall carrying her Arithmancy books next to her best friend, Ashley Faite. Ashley was a beauty, but she wore too much makeup for my taste. Gemma was cute, and didn't wear any. My type.

Ashley was hissing in her ear, and all of a sudden she looked over at Lorcan and I. She blushed and smiled.

"Gemma!" I called across the corridor, beckoning her over. She flushed again, and Ashley tugged her over to us.

"Hi," she said. "Hey," I said. We started walking up the staircase, but all of a sudden, it moved. For a second I thought it was going to crash into another moving staircase, which had two frightened first-years on it, but they stopped and locked into another corridor right next to each other right before they hit.

"Wicked," whispered one of the first-years, a Weasley boy, as he led the girl off the staircase.

"I know where this is," Gemma said all of a sudden. "Isn't this the third-floor corridor that Filch is always trying to keep us out of?"

"Must be," I said. "Let's explore?"

"Okay," said Ashley. "We have free period, right Gemma?"

Gem elbowed her. I laughed. She was cute.

"Sure," said Lorcan. That wasn't quite like him. Usually he was, to be frank, a boring brain.

"Can we come?" asked the Weasley boy. "I'm Hugo, and this is Lily."

"Sure," I shrugged. "What could go wrong?"

We tiptoed through the corridor into a dimly lit corridor, but froze when we heard the sound of someone talking.

"-at the fall of the Dark Lord..."

Gemma peered around the corner and muttered something in a muffled voice.

"What?" I said, peeking just over her head.

It was Professor Tralawney, looking dazed almost like she was in a trance.

"He will try to greaten his powers... and ascend..."

All of a sudden, we heard a sharp "meow."

Mrs. Norris was looking up at us from Lily's feet.

We didn't need to be told twice. We ran like heck. "See you at the ball," I called to Gemma as we ran down separate staircases.


	17. Chapter 17

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Rose Weasley**

**Night of the Yule Hogwarts Ball**

"Ready?" said Liz's voice uncertainly.

"Yeah," I said, biting my lip and staring into the mirror.

"Well, come out then," said Liz.

"Sure," I said, but my hand lay hesitantly on the doorknob.

We were all in a girl's bathroom not far from the great hall, trying to pull ourselves together.

It was Ball Night.

My dress was red, bright red. I thought it made me look nice. Its neon-ness didn't clash with my skin or hair, which was a plus. It went down to my shins and then cut off. There was a white pearl design on the very edge of the neckline, where it curved into a halter top. Roxi had tried to get me to do some kind of updo with my hair, but I'd left it hanging loosely around my shoulders. A little Sleekeasy hair potion didn't hurt- and it didn't look quite as bushy as it normally did. I sighed. I had my mother's hair.

My favorite part was the mask. I'd found it at the vintage Muggle shop when we were in town a few months before we started at Hogwarts and fallen in love with it. The band had always been slightly too big for my head, but now it fit perfectly.

It covered my cheekbones, stopping at about the bottom of my nose. The eye-holes were perfectly shaped and elegant. The rim around the edges was black velvet. And on the mask, made up of what seemed like thousands of tiny, intricately threaded beads, were large blooming roses.

Just like me- Rose.

I loved it. With the beaded rose-mask, the hair potion, and the dress... I could even be called pretty.

I hesitated one more second, then walked out of the stall. "Whoa," said Liz. "You look- well- good."

I knew that was about as high as a compliment got with Liz. I rolled my eyes.

Liz looked- well- good- herself. Like some kind of queen. I wasn't used to seeing her look so royal. She still wore that tallness that I'd noticed when I watched Fred ask her to the ball. Her mask was deep green, a little deeper than her dress. Rox had sewed this ingenious seafoam-colored edging around the outside of it. It was simple, but nice. Her dress was a shade of deep pine green that geniously matched the highlights in her hair. Her hair was kind of pretty, now. I guess it always had been. I'd just never noticed it before. Instead of sleeves or spaghetti straps, Liz's dress had small bands that went around her arms. It looked almost medieval. She was growing up just like the rest of us, I realized. That thought almost made me cry. Liz wasn't supposed to grow up. Right?

I guess everyone was. I'd just have to get used to it.

"You look pretty stunning yourself," I teased. "Who's coming with us? Or are you guys just going to sit here staring at your reflections for the next, like, three hours? Let's get on to the Masquerade!"

"Okay, okay," said Roxi. "Just let me touch the mask up. The feathers are falling off again."

"Just a second," Quelle sighed.

"Ditto," said Lu. "I can't find my other shoe."

"Oh, I have it," said Roxi, chucking it over the top of her stall.

"Rox! That almost landed in the toilet!" Lucy scoffed.

I grinned. This was our first dance as I'd always imagined it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble-- A Next-Generation-Harry-Potter Tale.**

**PART II: Not Alone**

**Sola Scamander**

**Fourth Poem**

_Tonight is like_

_A magazine_

_The cover, glossed_

_And buffed to shine_

_Whose colors boast something different_

_Is going on here that_

_You just have to be a part of-_

_Everyone's hair is_

_Up or down, up or down, what looks better up or down_

_And everyone's wearing_

_Dress robes, is this my color are you sure will they like it_

_And everyone's nervous_

_But thinks this is going to be so fun_

_Such a good magazine_

_And I go alone_

_But not really alone, because_

_Tonight the stars are with me, and the roses are with me,_

_And the music and every droplet of laughter is mine_

_And that's who I'm going to the ball with_

_Even though we're not on the front cover_

_Of the magazine_


End file.
